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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
If You Don't Have the Blues yet......
If You Don't Have the Blues yet......
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jbone
544 posts
Jun 11, 2011
6:47 AM
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come on down. i have a huge rock garden i'm moving. concrete, dirt, rocks, several cubic yards. i am building up a pad for an above ground pool- result of frugal living that we could afford it- which is the easy set variety. howEVER. the ground must be PERFECTLY LEVEL to set it on. our yard has quite a pitch which was not obvious until i got stakes, strings, and yesterday a transit out and got a real picture of how much i get to move. hence goodbye rock garden, hello level patch.
this was all well and good until i began moving fill with a shovel and garden cart in 90+ heat. work has slowed considerably. today i was on deck and slingin fill at 7:30 a.m. and it's now 8:30 and about 85 out. and humid.
a neighbor is going to top it off once i get all the fill in, and he's even going to use a front loader to move a lot of the dirt, but my mission is to have all the concrete chunks and rocks in place first.
the expression "Hindsight is 20/20" come to mind. for a couple hundred extra bucks i could have hired someone to do all of this and saved my back, hands, arms, and legs.
ah well, it does build character.
my time is limited since we have to be on deck to play an opener set at a benefit locally at about 5 p.m. i'm just in here cooling off.
how does this relate to a blues topic? our predecessors who made the first true american music, they, at least some of them, did this sort of stuff all day every day just to live. when they had food on the table and a few extra bucks they sent off and had a harmonica or a guitar kit delivered and after that, evenings were filled with music.
me? i have a day job in a semi-air conditioned parts house, drive cars with a/c for the most part, and our little bungalow has heat, air, running water, appliances, all the goodies within reason. much of this we take for granted. but slugging stuff around, sweating like there's no tomorrow, panting like a dog, by choice to get a pool put up, all made me realize again, what a debt we owe the founders of blues.
still- the offer stands. if you don't "get it", come on over. i have implements, gloves, and cold water. just look out back for the sweaty gray headed guy.
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kudzurunner
2519 posts
Jun 11, 2011
8:29 AM
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I agree with you jbone. You've said it eloquently.
Here's my weird variant on your story. In the summer of 1975, when I'd just graduated HS and was about to go off to college, it was also my first summer as a "bluesman," small-town style. My first summer as a harp player--I'd started the previous fall--and my first summer really feeling like I was working my way into the music.
My family lived in a three-story Victorian house with 13 rooms. My folks were broke, they'd gotten the house cheap ($19,000 in 1958) but they were severely underemployed, and my brother and I worked for my dad--the bossman--who didn't have any money to pay professionals to repaint the house. He was a painter himself--a fine artist, not a house-painter, but he could wield a brush!--and so he decided to use my brother and me as his wage-slaves, doing the prep work along with him, after which he was going to paint the thing himself. He paid us $3 an hour to scrape the paint off that house. We got up on the room and worked, sweated, in the sun. I got 150 feet of twin-lead speaker wire and brought one of my stereo speakers up there, and I played the Muddy Waters UNK IN FUNK album nonstop, with Carey Bell and Mojo Buford on harp. It was a memorable summer. Up on ladders, clambering around on tar paper, and hacking, hacking, hacking old paint off with scrapers. The suburban version of the old-time work-in-the-sun thing. The bossman wasn't a bad guy, but he was cheap. :)
Last Edited by on Jun 11, 2011 8:35 AM
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Oisin
821 posts
Jun 11, 2011
9:59 AM
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Picking Brussel sprouts on Christams eve in a field on my own in the snow, fingers cramping every 5 mins for £15 a day. The farmer who owned the field got drunk and forgot to come and pick me up and I had to walk home 7 miles in mud caked clothes and boots.
Everytime I feel sorry for myself at work I just have to think of that day to remind me that life can be a lot worse.
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Oisin
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arzajac
534 posts
Jun 11, 2011
10:16 AM
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I can go to the grocery store any day of the year and buy all the ingredients I need to make my family a proper meal.
Not even half of the people living on the planet today can make that claim. We are much richer and have a much better life than we think. And we are no where near to being able to bring everyone's quality of life up to a minimum standard.
IF THE WORLD WERE A VILLAGE OF 100 PEOPLE
In the world today, more than 6 billion people live.
If this world were shrunk to the size of a village of 100 people, what would it look like?
59 would be Asian
14 would be American (North, Central and South)
14 would be African
12 would be European
1 would be from the South Pacific
50 would be women, 50 would be men
30 would be children, 70 would be adults.
70 would be nonwhite, 30 would be white
90 would be heterosexual, 10 would be homosexual
33 would be Christians
21 would be Moslems
15 would be Hindus
6 would be Buddhists
5 would be Animists
6 would believe in other religions
14 would be without any religion or atheist.
15 would speak Chinese, Mandarin
7 English
6 Hindi
6 Spanish
5 Russian
4 Arabic
3 Bengali
3 Portuguese
The other would speak Indonesian, Japanese,
German, French, or some other language.
In such a village with so many sorts of folks, it would be very important to learn to understand people different from yourself and to accept others as they are. Of the 100 people in this village:
20 are underonurished
1 is dying of starvation, while 15 are overweight.
Of the wealth in this village, 6 people own 59% (all of them from the United States), 74 people own 39%, and 20 people share the remaining 2%.
Of the energy of this village, 20 people consume 80%, and 80 people share the remaining 20%.
20 have no clean, safe water to drink.
56 have access to sanitation
15 adults are illiterate.
1 has an university degree.
7 have computers.
In one year, 1 person in the village will die, but in the same year, 2 babies will be born, so that at the year's end the number of villagers will be 101.
If you do not live in fear of death by bombardment, armed attack, landmines, or of rape or kidnapping by armed groups, then you are more fortunate than 20, who do.
If you can speak and act according to your faith and your conscience without harassment, imprisonment, torture or death, then you are more fortunate than 48, who can not.
If you have money in the bank, money in your wallet and spare change somewhere around the house, then you are among the richest 8.
If you can read this message, that means you are probably lucky!
(The statistics were derived from Donella Meadows "State of the Village Report" first published in 1990)
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Last Edited by on Jun 11, 2011 10:17 AM
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groyster1
1103 posts
Jun 11, 2011
2:02 PM
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I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in november of 2007 to think I might be sleeping the big sleep gave me major blues anybody in this forum that has had a cancer diagnosis Im quite sure would agree
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jbone
545 posts
Jun 11, 2011
2:35 PM
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all points well taken gentlemen!
in my world i aspire to do more, have more, be more, despite my leanings toward a more minimal life.
my first checkup in many years has yielded some weighty results. triglycerides- who ever heard of them?- are way high, cholesterol is up there, blood sugar indices are toward future diabetes unless i can seriously modify my diet. on top of that, i am about to stop smoking. but notice something: all of these problems are due to excesses and not deficiencies.
with these health issues i can still not imagine working every week, not bringing home a paycheck. and thankfully my wife has unemployment coming in which should cover her until early retirement, when hopefully there will be some social security left early next year. but i know that the fact that we produce goods or services and pay taxes on earnings enables a social program to work later in life. many people have never come close to having what we have here.
by the way, i got done most of what needed doing in the back yard, so if you were planning to show up, thanks anyway. and the reality is, i need a pool to get more active and benefit my health!
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arzajac
537 posts
Jun 11, 2011
3:38 PM
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Groyster: Point well taken. No one has cornered the market on the blues.
Jbone: It sounds like you will really enjoy that pool. Here's to your health! Cheers!
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kudzurunner
2520 posts
Jun 11, 2011
3:58 PM
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I can guarantee that more than 7 out of 100 speak English. Lots of research to back this up. English is the second language of more people in the world than any other language by far. Wikipedia--an imperfect but useful resource--lists 1.8 billion total English speakers (first, second, and third language and 1.02 billion total Chinese speakers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers
The current world population is 6.7 billion. In that town of 100, 25 people would speak English, although many of them would be non-native speakers.
Academics who teach the history of the English language will tell you: English is such a vital language because a) it welcomes neologisms, new words, more than many languages, and 2) all those non-native speakers keep putting their own spin on it, adding cool stuff to it. It's an open-source language, in that sense.
As is blues.
Last Edited by on Jun 11, 2011 4:00 PM
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12gagedan
52 posts
Jun 11, 2011
4:13 PM
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Yeah, but how many in the village would play harmonica?
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"12gagedan" on youtube
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CamiloHarper
84 posts
Jun 11, 2011
7:07 PM
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Adam:
"Academics who teach the history of the English language will tell you: English is such a vital language because a) it welcomes neologisms, new words, more than many languages, and 2) all those non-native speakers keep putting their own spin on it, adding cool stuff to it. It's an open-source language, in that sense."
Damm me for bringing politics in, but... there is also one big thing you did not bring into the table.
Militar and cultural supremacy of the United States (and of UK in a lesser way) has "helped" to make english such an expanded language.
XX century popular western music was dominated by what America (and Uk) consumed. From blues, to jazz, to pop to rock etc. it was all born in America... and expanded to the world.
I love the blues, I can talk and comprehend fairly well the english language (even tough I never whent to any english speaking country)but I jsut wanted to add a spin of reflection on the subject.
I know you americans dont' like this example, but USA has been the Rome of our time. As so, all roads go to the USA...
Finally, you are right, english is a very practical language, I am astonished as how easy is to talk with some minimun knowledge.
Bye I don't hope to offend anyone. If I "hated" americans I wouldn't be in this forum in the first palce. I just want a better world, and for that we all need to open our mind to different toughts.
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With some latin flavour for you, chico!! :P
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shanester
382 posts
Jun 12, 2011
6:42 AM
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Lol, I always thought the Papacy was the Rome of our time.
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Shane
1shanester
Suffering may be optional, but it can be quite addictive!
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groyster1
1104 posts
Jun 12, 2011
7:14 AM
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rome is still in italy there are problems all over the world the usa just cant fix our own problems much less the world
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jbone
547 posts
Jun 12, 2011
4:04 PM
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Camilo, i get your comment about the usa being the current Rome. we could delve into a lot of subjects to point it out but it's obvious if one only looks honestly.
despite all the things wrong with a given nation, mine in this instance, i have to express gratitude that those downtrodden people of the past- and to an extent present-have transcended their respective plights (read slavery, jim crow, and institutionalized racism on one front, and a form of genocide and racism on another), to bring beauty and music into everyone's ears and eyes.
the victor may get eh spoils but seldom the hearts, minds, and souls of the vanquished or oppressed. and from the experiences of those oppressed comes art, spirituality, literature, and music that is much more valid and real to me than most western literature or philosophy.
i'll be back out moving rocks this evening. we just came from the grocery store where i tried shopping more healthy so i can wrestle my new health issue into manageability. i never saw this in my future,having to watch what i eat and drink. today is the first day in a very long time i have not smoked cigarettes- that's another adventure i had planned before all the diet stuff came up. so far it's a bit weird but not near as difficult as i had feared it would be. modern tech in the form of nicotine patches and a mood calming drug may very well allow me to succeed on this try (not my first).
as i said earlier though, i am among the fortunate who have not only found health issues due to excess, but also a solution to these problems thanks to the society i live in.
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Oisin
825 posts
Jun 12, 2011
4:55 PM
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Hey Jbone...I gave up cigarettes after 35 years smoking by using Champix. You keep smoking while taking them and after 2-3 weeks you can't stand even the thought of smoking. I never thought I'd ever give them up but these tablets are amazing. They do have known side effects and the doctor did sit me down before taking them and explained them all to me but apart from some very vivid dreams (which is the most commonly reported side effect) I had no issues with them and 7 months later I am still smoke free and don't even think of cigarettes any more.
I have smoked the very occasional "herbal cigarette" and it still worked fine too.
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Oisin
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